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decent laptop for gaming?

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ohfour238

Member
my friend is looking to get a fairly inexpensive laptop. she would like for it to be able to run some games on fair settings (BF:BC2, Left For Dead 2, etc..), she doesn't have the need to completely max things out. we were looking at this laptop http://www.jr.com/hp/pe/HP_DV74280US/. do you think this would suffice or is she just flat out gonna have to spend $$$ to get a decent gaming laptop?
 
yeah this is tough...she really doesn't wanna go refurbished and anything new that'll handle games (according to linked benchmarks) is more in the $1,500 range.
 
ohfour238 said:
yeah this is tough...she really doesn't wanna go refurbished and anything new that'll handle games (according to linked benchmarks) is more in the $1,500 range.
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What is wrong with refurbished? It's a laptop that was returned and then fixed up, i bought mine for $1,011 with a two year warranty. I haven't had any problems yet, and if i do i can just send it in and get it fixed. Only thing i noticed slightly "bad" about it was that the +/- keys are a little rubbed off and are kind of hard to see in the dark.
 
My last two laptops were refurbished and i'v never run into any difficulties with them. For me i dont think i will be buying a "new" laptop anytime soon because my refurbished ones have been very good for a very nice discount.
 
ioni said:
That looks like a decent gaming laptop but I can't get over the low clock speed. 1.7 just seems so slow. Anyone have this and able to comment on it?
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I have a HP envy and it's got the same processor. The processor is strong and believe me I'm very picky when it comes to computer hardware (you can read my signature and see my desktop specs). I've never found myself needing more CPU power while using my laptop. I think that i7 matched with the gtx 460m is awesome. The thing comes with a 1080p screen too. I have no doubts it would be an awesome laptop and I would recommend it to anyone.
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
I have a HP envy and it's got the same processor. The processor is strong and believe me I'm very picky when it comes to computer hardware (you can read my signature and see my desktop specs). I've never found myself needing more CPU power while using my laptop.
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Well that's good to hear. I'm also looking for a gaming laptop with a $1200 budget. Although after looking at the chassis of the G53JW-XN1, it doesn't look like it's for me. The ports are in all the wrong places and there doesn't appear to be a button to disable the mouse pad.

Ugh, I hate how you can't upgrade laptops! I want to keep my current chassis!
 
ioni said:
Well that's good to hear. I'm also looking for a gaming laptop with a $1200 budget. Although after looking at the chassis of the G53JW-XN1, it doesn't look like it's for me. The ports are in all the wrong places and there doesn't appear to be a button to disable the mouse pad.

Ugh, I hate how you can't upgrade laptops! I want to keep my current chassis!
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There isnt a button but i can disable mine in about 10 secs, you can also set it to disable when it detects a USB mouse.
 
Gaming laptops are such a difficult thing to purchase. It seems like damned if you do and damned if you don't. Do you purchase one so powerful that it cannot be used on your lap? Do you purchase one that isn't so bulky so you can travel with it more frequently?

I have a hard time making decisions with computer hardware, and nVidia and AMD do not make this any easier. With their million different variations of GPUs and allowing them to be paired with inferior memory only complicates matters. Gee, did I get the 5850 with GDDR3 or GDDR5? Well, looky here, the performance difference can be greater than 20%.

Not all of this can be blamed on nVidia and AMD. The laptop manufacture decides to put in a uber GPU only to cripple it with a pathetic memory controller while not disclosing this fact. You have to hope someone else does a review and posts a GPUID screenshot.

I remember my DVT5 (awesome laptop BTW) which had a 9600M GT. Problem is, it was DDR2 @ 800Mhz while the DDR3 was 1400Mhz (I think?). Big difference. A 30% difference.

Anyway, back to the topic. I mention all of this, because I want to recomend that you check out a few websites. www.notebookcheck.com and www.notebookreview.com. Be sure that you read the forums at the latter and really research this purchase. Not all nVidia and AMD GPUs perform the same despite having the same model number. They play with the clocks, voltages and the memory types and speeds.
 
ok, thanks for all the input guys, really appreciate it. looks like she's gonna go with that $1,200 one that oilfieldtrash linked to in post #10. the GTX 460M measures up to be a decent budget card that'll allow her to play most games smoothly on a high level and everything else will be more than enough for her.
 
My HP Mini plays bejeweled and solitaire fine. Does that make it a gaming notebook? 😀

Consequently I use a G73 for more work. I like it EXCEPT for the crazy colors the LED backlight produce! :thumbsdown: I wish they put a 1394 port on there!

I'm on a Dell XPS M1330 now and it supposedly can handle games but I never really tried pushing it that hard.
 
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